Friday, April 13, 2012

Environment - "National Park Service to restore Cowles Bog to former condition"

Some quotes from a long, unsigned story in yesterday's Chesterton Tribune:

A century ago, visitors to what is now the Dune Acres area on what is today U.S. Highway 12 would have seen something very different from the scene today.

In place of the current stand of trees, passersby would have looked out upon a much more open wetland area. The Cowles Bog Wetland Complex, as this area is known, contained the globally threatened lake plain wet-mesic prairie ecosystem and was home to an uncommon set of plants and animals. Over the last 100 years, however, the bog has been ditched, drained, farmed, polluted, and overtaken by trees, eliminating this unique landscape.

The National Park Service (NPS) has recently announced plans to restore this special corner of Northwest Indiana to its historical state. “The plans are a bold step to enhance the site for the use of students, scientists, and park visitors, and to improve regional quality of life,” NPS said in a statement released this week.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 13, 2012 08:46 AM
Posted to Environment